Last month, 120,340 people either downloaded the application for a license online or requested it by mail, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Division of Licensing. That's compared with 61,131 the month before, and 47,256 in January 2012.

"There is unfortunately a little bit of a wait time right now," said Whitney Shiver, the department's government analyst.

Florida law gives the Division of Licensing 90 days to turn around an application for a concealed weapons license, and the division is taking close to that entire time. About six months ago, processing took more like 30 to 45 days, Shiver said.

Fees for applicants include about $35 for fingerprints, $42 for fingerprint processing and a $70 licensing fee. A Florida concealed weapon or firearm license gives the holder the right to carry handguns, electronic weapons or devices, tear gas guns, knives or billy clubs.

Staff are doing their best to stay under the 90-day limit, Shiver said. In the past eight weeks or so, the Division of Licensing has hired 34 temporary employees and authorized overtime hours to help keep up with demand. The department also extended hours in some of its eight regional offices.

Applicants can download the two-page concealed weapons license application online or request online that it be mailed. They also can fill it out at a regional office, but Shiver said that is probably the slowest option.

Last week the Punta Gorda, Fla., office, serving three counties in southwest Florida, was booked until May 21. The other eight offices had a similar wait, with the Orlando office booked until June 24.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which conducts background checks on license applicants, is not contributing to the delay, spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said. The department turns around background checks within 72 hours and has not experienced a backlog.

Leon Goldsmith, 45, of Buckingham, Fla., wants a concealed weapon license to streamline the process of buying a firearm for home defense. But it's been about 120 days since he applied, and he doesn't have a permit.

Goldsmith and his wife submitted their applications on the same day in early October, and she received hers on Christmas Eve, he said.

"I was starting to get frustrated," Goldsmith said. "I started trying to call their numbers and I got a recording that says due to a large increase in applications there was going to be some processing delays."

Jon Dezendorf, manager of Fowler Firearms here said he has seen at least a 50% increase in participants in his concealed weapons classes the past few months.

"Self-defense in general," he said, when asked why. "That's the only reason you're really going for the concealed weapons permit. People are just more concerned with all the shootings that are going on right now."

He said he instructs a few hundred people a month.

Jon Gutmacher, an Orlando firearms lawyer, said a few people have emailed him to say it's taken longer than the 90-day limit to receive their concealed weapons licenses.

"I said just be patient because unfortunately it's really not their fault," he said. The state has no penalties in place if the division takes more than 90 days.

"When your head's below water, there's not much you can do," Gutmacher said.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services website says it can take longer than 90 days to turn around an application with errors - where questions have not been filled out, checks are for the wrong amount, fingerprints are illegible or background checks show criminal cases with pending dispositions.

Charles Berrane, a firearms instructor and owner of a Miami gun store, said the division of licensing recently streamlined the application process and cut down on wait time with features such as electronic fingerprint submissions.

A year and a half ago he said his neighbor received a concealed weapons license within a week.

"They were down from anywhere to three days to seven days for most applicants," he said. "I must admit to you, the expectations were it was going to stay there."